Transcribed from a facsimile of the original printing and design of 1863 by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk
HANDBOOK TO THE SEVERN VALLEY RAILWAY
Illustrative and Descriptive of Places along the Line,
from
WORCESTER TO SHREWSBURY.
BY J. RANDALL, F.G.S.,
author of “severn valley,” etc.
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LEGEND OF THE SEVERN, WYE, AND RHEIDOL.
(See Illustration on the Cover.)
The Welsh are justly proud of their hills and their rivers; they frequently personify both, and attribute to them characters corresponding with their peculiar features. Of the Severn, the Wye, and the Rheidol, they have an apologue, intended to convey an idea of their comparative length, and also of the character of the districts through which they flow. It is called “The Three Sisters,” and in substance is as follows:—In some primitive period of the earth’s history, Father Plinlimmon promised to these nymphs of the mountain as much territory as they could compass in a day’s journey to the sea, by way of dowry upon their alliance with certain marine deities they should meet there. Sabra, goddess of the Severn, being a prudent, well-conducted maiden, rose with the first streak of morning dawn, and, descending the eastern side of the hill, made choice of the most fertile valleys, whilst as yet her sisters slept. Vaga, goddess of the Wye, rose next, and, making all haste to perform her task, took a shorter course, by which means she joined her sister ere she reached the sea. The goddess Rhea, old Plinlimmon’s pet, woke not till roused by her father’s chiding; but by bounding down the side of the mountain, and selecting the shortest course of all, she managed to reach her destination first. Thus the Cymric proverb, “There is no impossibility to the maiden who hath a fortune to lose or a husband to win.”